Wednesday, September 30, 2009

The cobra battalions (an elite Honduran police squad) and soldiers have violated people's homes in poor communities, shooting live rounds at families. They have shot tear gas and pepper spray into people's houses targeting children, pregnant women and elders in the neighborhoods of Altos del Viera, Manchen, and el Barrio el Bosque, Hato, Suyapa, LasVegas, San Francisco, colonia Kennedy, Bendeck, Travesía and the Morazán residential area, Colonia Divanna, Altos de la Divanna, Pedregal, Centroamérica, Altos de los Milagros in Tegucigalpa and in other poor neighborhoods in the capital. The soldiers have captured and tortured the young man Jose Luis Rodas.

Human rights defenders Francisco Mencia and Walter Trochez and Maricio Mendoza were tortured by the Criminal Investigation Unit after being detained at the police post in the Victor F. Ardon neighborhood and their lives are in extreme risk. Meanwhile, residents of the Juan Ramon Molina neighborhood, other communities of San Pedro Sula and different areas of the country have been subjected to similar brutality.

These acts of terror and crimes against humanity like physical torture and psychological war that were learned at the School of the Americas are being put into practice on the defenseless population in a vile and cowardly way; just like the war crimes committed by Hitler, Mussolini, Pinochet and the great despots of Latin American history.

Bombs of tear gas not only produce tears, but they also cause abortions,asthma, allergies, vomiting, shock, heart attacks and death.

We are making an urgent call to the national and international community to demand that these crimes stop completely and to prohibit the use of lethal chemical, toxic and deafening weapons. Also, do not use the Hondurans people as an experiment for future wars against the people ofLatin America.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Chemical and sonic weapons used by the Honduran Military Violate the Geneva Convention

The use of chemical, electromagnetic and sonic weapons by the security forces of the de facto regime, specifically those used in the Brazilian Embassy, are prohibited by the Geneva Convention of 1997.

The parabolic dish the coup “security” forces directed against the resistance is apparently known as HSS (Hyper Sonic Sound). This has been used by the U.S. Army in Iraq since 2004, and the Israeli Zionist army in 2005 in the Gaza Strip.

The HSS and VMAD (Vehicle-Mounted Active Denial System) form part of the new arsenal of the United States Army and are considered "nonlethal” weapons, however, these weapons can be lethal depending on the effect intended by its operator. The HSS can make targeted people feel they are hearing voices, in addition to induce vomiting and fainting. The VMADS produce a burning sensation on the skin, while under the electromagnetic wave emanating from such a weapon.Of course, the Geneva Convention has been violated systematically by the United States during the last decades. The HSS was put into use with prisoners at Guantanamo, before its use in Irak.The HSS is produced by the American Technology Corp, of San Diego California (http://www.atcsd.com/site/). It is necessary to ask when it was acquired by the Honduran “security” forces, and if the acquisition was recent, we must also ask on what grounds the United States exported these instruments of torture. .The fourth generation war (asymmetrical war) being launched against the Honduran people will bring to light the loss of vision in the enjoyment of human rights and the ambiguous position of the Clinton-Obama administration, which to date, after promoting the coup have avoided taking the necessary steps to return democratic rule to the country.

Of course Obama will avoid the topic, now that the U.S. Justice Department is in the hands of the lawyer Erick Holder (the only afro-descendant person on his cabinet), recent defender of Chiquita (Tela Rail Road) in the case of the multi-million dollar payment the company made to Colombian paramilitaries and the use of the company pier to unload the weapons used in the massacres perpetrated by the AUC. As Secretary of Justice, Holder has avoided the closing of Guantanamo and eluded the prosecution of CIA agents that institutionalized waterboarding as a method of prisoner interrogation.Rumors are circulating in the City of Tegucigalpa of the presence of Zionist Israel B. Ziv, who was contracted as the adviser for Plan Colombia, Georgia and recently who has worked on counterinsurgency in Peru. Ziv is an owner of the company Global CST, with headquarters in Petaj Tikva, Israel, and offers services on national security strategies, reconstruction of public forces, and the development of intelligence systems and training of elite commandos.

It is important to document the effects of the so-called “non-lethal” arms utilized against the Constitutional President Manuel Zelaya Rosales and the people who are accompanying him within the Brazilian Embassy, including members of the resistance. After Irak and Gaza, Honduras has become a laboratory of war and social annihilation by the U.S. and its puppet IsraelFraternal Organization of Black Hondurans, OFRANEHTeléfono (504) 4420618, (504) 4500058Av 14 julio, calle 19, Contiguo Vivero Flor Tropical, Barrio Alvarado, La Ceiba, Hondurasemail:garifuna@ofraneh.org, ofraneh@yahoo.com

Friday, September 25, 2009

Civil Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras - COPINH

PUBLIC DENUNCIATION

Before national and international public opinion, the media, human rights organizations and the Honduran people,

We denounce:

1.- That since the 28th of June in Honduraswe are living through a state of continuous and systematic violation of the human rights of people throughout the national territory

2.- That these practices of violation, repression and brutality used by the coup dictatorial regime have assaulted the physical and psychological well-being and multiple rights of the population which has led to a large quantity of people killed and wounded.

3.- In this context there have been detentions and false accusations against citizens and foreign citizens in order to discredit people who have no relation with criminal practices.

have become political prisoners of the dictatorial regime impossed by Roberto Micheletti Bain and the authorities following his illegal command. These people were initially taken to several illegal detention centers and besides being brutally beaten have been accused amongst other things of sedition, a political crime established in the national national laws. There is no type of reliable evidence that sustains this accusation.

Because of this we demand the immediate freedom of our political prisoners.

We denounce, once again, the persecution and aggression carried out against the Honduran people by the dictatorial regime through its repressive bodies.

We demand before national and international opinion and its relevant organizations the immediate denunciation and action in favor of life, freedom and security of these persons and the people in general.

Tegucigalpa, 24th of September, 2009.

¡¡¡AT 89 DAYS OF STRUGGLE HERE NOBODY IS GIVING UP!!!

WITH THE ANCESTRAL FORCE OF LEMPIRA, MOTA AND ETEMPICA WE RAISE OUR VOICES OF LIFE, JUSTICE, FREEDOM, DIGNITY AND PEACE

Interview with Bertha Cáceres FloresCivil Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH)Havana, CubaSeptember 4, 2009

Beverly Bell: Here we are in Havana with Bertha Caceras Flores in the Forum on Emancipatory Paradigms, speaking about the tactics and repression of those behind the coup d'etat.

Bertha Caceres: The people of Honduras and the popular movement have suffered a big blow at the hands of what we are calling a dictatorship, and which, in terms of violation of human rights, has been criminal and repressive. We've seen how these repressive forces have dragged people out of their houses and has been brutal against the youth, against women, against indigenous people. And by this we mean to say that racism is really resurgent right now, racism and also violence against women. These things are reinforced by the militarization that has taken place in the whole region. We have around 15 compañeros that have been assassinated. Compañeros who were tortured before being killed and whose deaths were meant as a message to all of the young people and the demonstrators. In the South of the country, in Paraiso, there was someone who, after being captured, kidnapped basically, was tortured and then stabbed 47 times. And his body was left on the side of the road where the protests were taking place.

The form of repression has been direct, shameless, with torture and everything I've said. But there's also been a repression that is done with surveillance, with following people, especially against the organizations, through the telephones, following leaders. We know there have been plans to assassinate leaders like the "falcon" plan and the "tundra" plan, that are aimed at capturing leaders, torturing them, and them dumping them hurt, or with others assassinating them. And we've been denouncing this kind of thing.

But again the repression goes deeper than this. There's been a campaign of terror through the media, using the psychology of fear to criminalize protest, to criminalize social movements. There have been smear campaigns of all kinds, and threats. We have seen how the media, owned by the coup oligarchs, has been used to motivate violations of human rights. A shameless call to beat and repress. And also a violation of the right to free expression. We've seen how the coup government has been repressing all of the media. Where people were protesting, they've shut them up, they've kidnapped journalists. The media outlets were closed the day they imposed the curfew, which really has encouraged the human rights violations.

The state of emergency denies all of our human rights as civilians. We've seen how the military says that they don't need any kind of judicial order to detain people; this affects everything. The killing of women has increased 60% just since the coup began. The military and the police have been assaulting women, all of this rage against women just because they are women, and that's without even talking about indigenous people or black people.

So we're living in this repressive state, in a militarized society. Where death squadrons have been reactivated, shamelessly, the 3-16 [ed. note: an infamous military death squad that operated in Honduras in the 1980s], the generals who attended the School of the Americas, including CIA agents like Billy Joya [the leader of the 3-16], who was a trainer and organizer of torture, a good student of Gustavo Alvarez Martinez [a Honduran general during the 1980’s who was accused of horrific human rights violations], and of John Dimitri Negroponte [U.S. Ambassador to Honduras in the 1980s], and now he's the number one security advisor to Micheletti, the coup leader. And we've seen how the coup leaders have been accompanied by international terrorists like Otto Reich [FormerU.S. Assistant Secretary of State and supporter of the 2002 coup in Venezuela] and Robert Carmona [A leader in the 2002 Venezuelan coup], recognized counter-revolutionaries, and how the counter-revolutionary mafia in Miami has been so shamelessly involved with this. Robert Carmona was in the presidential palace, in the prosecutor's office, meeting with the attorney general in the Congress, guarded by the military.

We've seen an enormous attack against the social movements, trying to dismantle us. There have been an uncountable number of individual and collective human rights violations. I can say that all of these human rights violations have been documented, and have been denounced to unofficial human rights organizations in Honduras like COFADE, CODE, SIPRODE, and all of this documentation has been sent to the Inter-American Human Rights Commission, and to Judge Garzon, who was recently in Honduras. We've explained all of this to the Organization of American States, and all of the international delegations that have come to Honduras from Europe, the US, Latin America, the Caribbean. It's all there, documented, and evident, the violations of human rights.

Bev: How have laws been trampled or revised to justify all this?

Berta: One way is, as I mentioned, the curfew, using the curfew and the state of emergency, with the suspension of all of our constitutional rights and guarantees. The regime has pushed forward laws that, for example, when they have captured activists, with the help of the Supreme Court, which is in support of the coup, they've used a category of accusation against the compañeros like sedition, terrorism, illegal protests.

They've used these same courts and the prosecutor's office to close radios and television stations. This has been documented on Channel 36, Radio Progress, Radio Globe, and the indigenous community radio stations.

They've also passed a law that considers it treason to be in resistance, to speak out against the coup, to even mention that in Honduras there was a coup is considered terrorism and high treason against the state. There have been a series of actions that are illegal, unconstitutional, in violation of human rights, and they practically haven't even had to change many laws to do it, because all of this law was there as part of the plan for the war against terrorism that Bush was pushing in Central America, and by using these laws they have criminalized the social movement, they've repressed us, and it doesn't really matter to them whether or not there's a law. It's a coup.

Bev: The other day, you spoke about that even though this is a terrible coup, and completely in disregard of human rights and democracy, this is also a special time for you all. Could you tell us what advances the movement has made as a result of this coup?

Bertha: Well, Honduras has always been an unknown country. Even now we've seen how all of the big news stations have left the country and that Honduras isn't an issue anymore in these media monopolies. We've always said that we've always been known for two things: for being a military base, which was the launching pad and training site for the attack on the Nicaraguan revolution and for training the elite death squads of Guatemala and El Salvador. And the other thing we're known for is Hurricane Mitch. It was a terrible disaster.

Now the world knows Honduras for a very different phenomenon. We've seen the amazement of the international community and the solidarity community. And that amazement wasn't only in the international community: we were surprised, as well, at how the from the Honduran people burst forth this enormous force. With all of this accumulated history of frustration, and demands, that all came forward in different ways and in different expressions.

A real gain has been the massive, incredible involvement of women in this movement. They have been strong, energetic, creative, coming up with new kinds of struggle, displaying an amazing amount of energy and a profound understanding of the concepts of struggle. Also the youth. The youth have been superstar participants in this movement. And it's no coincidence that the repression has been so fierce against them. Indigenous people as well: since the first day we've been present in this mobilization, in all of the marches, the occupation of highways, including the guarding of the Venezuelan Embassy, as a way of demonstrating how grateful the people of Honduras are towards the people of Venezuela. And of course to the people of Cuba. Up until now they haven't been able to touch the Cuban doctors, 300 of whom are still working in the country, and who have been threatened. So the people of Honduras have been able to draw on all of this richness, and creativity. Art, for example, has been a really important part of the resistance.

We've been able to unite ourselves around one central objective, which is to overthrow the dictatorship. Overcoming the individual interests of organizations, of different sectors... And to demand not only the reinstitution of the democratic president Manuel Zelaya, but also to unite around other historic demands, including the formation of a national constitutional assembly which is popular and democratic and has direct participation of the people. So this means that the challenge for the people of Honduras is going to be even greater than what we've been through already.

And the oligarchs are going to respond to this. We have a chant that we've really taken to heart, that says "they're afraid of us because we're fearless." They've realized that the people of Honduras have taken this on as a historical obligation. They made a mistake when they thought the resistance was only going to last three days. That's what they said: "Three days and this will all be over." And they were wrong. They've been wrong about a lot of things. We can see that they are weak. We see them as beaten down. We see them as wavering in front of the force of the people of Honduras.

Bev: The other day you said this has been the first time that you all have been united in a popular movement.

Bertha: Yes. To me, this is the biggest accomplishment of this movement: the unity of a social movement led by the Honduran people. And they didn't wait for structure or directions or ideology or leaders or anything. They didn't wait for anything. They had this explosion of organization, of rebellion, of insurrection in a way that was spontaneous, autonomous, and creative. And this pushes the social movements to become more conscious. The significance of a coup and a military dictatorship helps us form ourselves into what we call here one big knot. We're all united under the same objective, including in complicated issues like electoral politics. I think there's been a real process of maturing in this movement. The movement understands that the resistance front, which is a broad-based movement with a lot of different mass organization, needs to maintain its principles, and maintain its independence, and push these anti-coup electoral forces to join with the direction of the Honduran people, who have joined together around one proposal. So I think this movement has taught a lesson, not only to the ultra-right, but to ourselves, the popular movement.

Bev: You're here with a lot of revolutionaries and progressive folks in this Forum on Alternative paradigms. Many of them have lived through dictatorships in their own countries. What's the message you've been saying: "For now it's Honduras, yes, but..."

Bertha: I think that you have to be clear about one thing: the coup in Honduras has not just been against Honduras, it hasn't just been against Mel Zelaya and his cabinet. It's been against all of the emancipatory processes. It's been a clear, threatening message to the progressive and leftist governments in our continent. It's a clear message that the ultra-right and the imperialists aren't going to stop. They want to reclaim power in the middle of the economic crisis, where they know very well that they need our resources. The military coup in Honduras was directly related to the plundering of our resources. It's very clear the involvement of gringo geopolitical interests in the region. It's connected to other plans of militarization and annexation: the case of Colombia, the threat of destabilization of the governments of Ecuador, of Bolivia, and of Paraguay, and others. And of our region in Central America.

I think we're in a moment where this ultra-right and this imperialism is marking the beginning of a new 21st Century kind of coup. We see this. When we read the declarations of the right in Paraguay, this week, we were shocked to see that it is exactly the language that the oligarchy of Honduras used before and during the coup, that they used against Mel Zelaya.

So our call to the social movements of this continent is that we really push the need to unite ourselves and to create strategies between social movements and left governments. I know there are people who say, we need to maintain our independence, our autonomy. But that doesn't mean that we can't also make the alliances and the strategies that we need to make with these governments.

I think we need to be clear that this coup is the beginning of a strategy of direct aggression, and aggression backed by the US, against the process of integration of the ALBA (Bolivian Alternative for the Americas). The Honduran people were really fighting for ALBA. It was an initiative in part by the president, but it was something that we had to push for. And that's why it outrages us to see that these tyrants, these assassins, are using the money of the ALBA, this money that was produced by the labor of our brothers in the Caribbean, of the Venezuelan and Cuban people, to pay for their international jet-setting. That they're using to pay the plane tickets of [Honduran business man and coup supporter] Miguel Facusse. It's heartbreaking to see how they've robbed from the central bank of Honduras to pay the repressors. To pay the millionaires who are running this campaign of terror against our people. Who are they paying? The grand czar of the communications monopoly in Honduras, Rafael Ferrari, the same coup leader.

So I think this is a message to the international community, and a call for solidarity with the people of Honduras. That to fight against the dictatorship in Honduras right now is to fight for our whole continent.

Bev: You have said a museum that should be built. For what and why?

Berta: We have walked so much that if we were to add up the hours and the kilometers that we've walked - from Colon to San Pedro Sula, or from Batea or Piedra Gorda, del Paraiso to the capital, and the dozens of kilometers that they walk every day in the marches - it would be something incredible. I hope someone somewhere is calculating how much we've walked, and not just for the sake of walking but to defy a dictatorship. So a friend said, "Well, we've walked so much, for real, that we've worn out our shoes or our sandals. We've got to put together a museum. A museum for all the worn out shoes and flip-flops." We think that this is important. Maybe to other people it doesn't seem important, but for us it means to speak up, to raise up the evidence of this resistance. You know? We've seen compañeros with foot problems, with injuries, and they're still there marching. We've seen 76-year-old women who never let the resistance down, day after day. Or 10-year-olds giving profound and well thought out speeches to crowds of 70,000 people. It's something incredible. And it's something a people can only do when they feel that their hour has come.

Bev: Is there anything else you want to say?

Bertha: Only to emphasize the need for solidarity, to call out to all of the movements to be in solidarity with us. And to say that for us, as the Honduran people, it's important that you understand better our reality. What happened before the coup? What happened so that one day, the 28th of June, using the pretext that a public consultation was unconstitutional that they seized power? What happened before? What is the antecedent? What has the role of Honduras been in the international geopolitics? What have been the 100 years of occupation of the US in Honduras? What was the plunder of the transnational companies that now fund the coup? And the IFI's [international financial institutions]? And the same structures like the international bureaucracy, like the UN or the OAS, that funds the coup and then denounces them? What role has the oligarchy played, that thinks we're still living in the 80's? And why do they feel the need once again to re-launch this strategy of military coups?

We think it's important to understand all of this history. It might not be reaching other audiences because of the media blackout and the campaign of terror that the commercial media is running. And for the same reason that I mentioned at the beginning: that we have been a forgotten country. Our history, our resistance, the accumulation of all of these demands that the people are expressing right now. Our people have more reason than ever to call for a constitutional assembly. Because water has been privatized, because the land is being privatized, and our resources, by this military government.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

At least four people died, among them an eight year old child in the confrontations that took place in Tegucigalpa

The peasant leader who directs the Front of Resistance Against the Coup d'Etat in Honduras, Rafael Alegría, confirmed to the Honduran radio station Radio Globo the death of two people poisoned by teargas used by the military and police to disperse the protesters around the Brazillian embassy in Tegucigalpa, where Zelaya has been since Monday. At the same time, Alegría confirmed to the radio station the death of a union leader of the workers of the National Agrarian Institute because of a bullet.

At the same time, Zelaya spokesperson Omar Palacios confirmed to the Nicaraguan newspaper Nuevo Diario the death of an eight year old child who was living next to the Brazillian embassy which continues to be surrounded by military and police. The child died asphyxiated by the tear gasses that were used.

"They attacked the house with bombs and didn't give them the opportunity to leave. There was no humanitarian consideration even to take out their remains," added Palacios.

Since the coup of the 28th of une until the month of August, according to information from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, four people have been killed during acts of protest against the Micheletti government, in which "mass beatings and detentions have proliferated" against the opposition to him. Amnesty International (AI) denounced an increase in police beatings, massive arrests of protesters against the de fact government and the intimidation of human rights activists in honduras since the coup in June. "Numerous protesters" were attacked by the authorities.

For his part, Zelaya indicated that he has information that at least ten people have died in the country in the incidents that happened Tuesday between his followers and the police forces.

“I have information of more than ten people killed yesterday," said Zelaya in declarations made by telephone to the media.

Chornicle of September 23rd from Feminists in Resistance

Sisters, at 88 days of resistance, yesterday in my neighborhood women, men and kids filled the boulevard of the armed forces, we burned tires and took over the boulevard, defying the curfew that the coup-makers had installed yesterday, at 8 pm a white Nissan vehicle came, turned on its lights and parked at one of the barricades that we had put up. From the car there were three shots, minutes later two police tanks arrived blasting us with water and tear gas, two trucks of military and two police patrols full of police arrived, there were also soldiers walking, all of them completely armed, they arrived even at the houses firing tear gas and water, from this moment they started to fire without stopping and for a period they would go then come back shooting, all night was a night of war, and we woke up with two helicopters flying over our neighborhoods, LA NUEVA ESPERANZA (the New Hope) and EL PROGESO (the Progress).

Today the 23rd of September more than 60,000 of us gathered at the National Pedagogical University, from where we left towards the UN. We were all going with lots of strength and energy to continue with the popular insurrection. When we got halfway to the Guadalupe bridge, there were hundreds of police and military, but thanks to the strength of the people we were repelling the military and police until we got to the red building in the Palmira neighborhood, when the "leadership of the resistance" said we should head to the center, several of us were left at the end of the march and the BAD AUTHORITIES when they saw that there were few of us started to throw tear gas at us and follow us, we ran two blocks, when a patrol car was following us LIDICE and myself (SARA), we ran and we left some behind, and the patrol captured them, [We escaped] thanks to the solidarity of one friend who let us come into his house which in that moment had the door open. When we could leave that place we got to downtown, where the military of all colors and with lots of arms that we had never seen surrounded us around the center of the city street by street, they fired on people, and FOR A SECOND TIME WE WERE ABLE TO GET OUT. Sisters we are being cruelly repressed, beaten and killed from the neighborhoods in resistance they have already killed several, they have cut off the signals of Channel 36 and Radio Globo.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

To the national and international community we denounce that at the first hours of the morning a strong contingent of police and military violently attacked the peaceful protest that was happening around the Brazillian embassy to celebrate the return of the legitimate President Manuel Zelaya Rosales.

The repressive bodies made use of firearms, teargas, pepper spray and rubber bullets against people who were in the area, some of which were still sleeping. There are people injured from bullets and gravely beaten in the Hospital Escuela. The exact number of detained is unknown.

We condemn these acts of barbarity that are rooted in a state of siege that violates fundamental human rights.

To the human rights organizations and the peoples and governments of the world, we call to join in repudiation against the brutal actions of the de facto regime installed by the Honduran oligarchy.

To the Honduran people we urge you to stay alert to the next instructions emanating from the coordinators of the Resistance.

The OPLN informs that today Tuesday 22nd September at 5am demonstrators that were accompanying the Constitutional President Manuel Zelaya in the street of the Brasilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa were violently removed by the military and police forces of the de facto government. It is expected that in the coming moments the Brasilian Embassy will be invaded by members of the police force. There are reports of tens of injured and beaten, at least one persondead and several people who have disappeared. These numbers are yet to be confirmed.

The illegal curfew has been extended to 6pm this evening. Currently people around the whole country are being affected by electrical cuts by the military, radio and TV stations are being removed from transmission and the streets are militarized.

We demand that the police and military repression stops immediately. We reiterate our call to the Honduran people to join the fight and march today in a response to the illegal measures imposed by the military regime.

We also ask the world to show their support for the Honduran peopleand condemn once again the violent acts of the de facto government.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Racist coup government: Shut down the Garífuna Community Hospital of Ciriboya.

This report was written by the National Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH), the largest organization of Afro-Hondurans and an important force within the resistance to the coup d'etat. The Garífuna doctor who spearheaded the creation of the hospital, Dr. Luther Castillo has been faced with ongoing threats to his life and freedom as a result of the coup.

In recent days a threat has been becoming effective to convert the Community Hospital of Ciriboya into a simple health center, disqualifying the enormous labor of support carried out by Garífuna doctors graduated in the Latin American School of Medicine and Cuban medical brigades.

The reasons that motivate the de facto regime when deciding to destroy the work carried out by the Ciriboya Community Hospital, are steeped in the racism of the state functionaries who have been incorporated into the nightmare orchestrated by Micheletti, and the disdain for the social vision of the doctors educated in Cuba, versus the capitalist mentality of the majority of the doctors graduated from local schools.

The labor carried out as much by the Cuban medical brigades as by the Garífuna doctors has served as a paradigm of equal to equal in the construction of community-controlled resources like this model hospital, unique in Honduras and an example for all other indigenous peoples.

Dr. Luther Castillo has been one of the leaders of the struggle against the coup d'etat, a situation that has led him to be persecuted and targeted by its henchman. In the persistent and heroic marches of repudiation of the coup by the Honduran people, Doctor Castillo and Garífuna members of OFRANEH have been at the front of the mobilizations, opening the path with ancestral ceremonies to neutralize the bad faith of the coup-makers.

The Garífuna participation in repudiation of the coup has exacerbated the latent racism in some Hondurans, with the security forces most willing to commit abuses against our sisters and brothers, in particular against those who live or are in Tegucigalpa, as they immediately associated them with resistance to the coup.

The closure of the hospital disguised as a transformation into a health outpost implies the loss of the ambulant Garífuna doctors who have covered the zone, as well as the appropriation by the Ministry of Health of the Garífuna initiative to have a hospital that respects the cultural vision of our people; having as a result the gradual destruction and abandonment of the center, has happens with the majority of health outposts of the country.

The politicians and businesspeople completely reject community initiatives, which they link with an anti-capitalist vision and so they try to destroy them. As an example there is the determined attitude by the last administrations to dilute the communal property titles, which are seen with enormous animosity and which they try to convert into private property.

The project Luágu Hátuadi Wadúheñu, (For the health of our peoples) arose in 2005 and in that short lapse of time has offered not just a health alternative for the Garífuna people but at the same time has achieved the construction of a model hospital. The enormous effort seems to have irritated the junk buses businessman (Thug-eletti) and his flock of servants.

OFRANEH calls for the restitution of the constitutional order at the same time as we demand that the Luágu Hátuadi Wadúheñu project be saved, which for the Garífuna people, and especially for the inhabitants of the Iriona zone, represents a promise of life anf of a better future for our descendants.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Betty Vasquez is a member of Women in Resistance of Santa Bárbara, Honduras. She is also part of ECOS.SB - Space of Concentration of Social Organizations of Santa Bárbara. She spoke today with HondurasResists to inform us about the current situation in Honduras and the state of the resistance.

HondurasResists: How is the resistance doing?

Betty Vasquez: Here in the west we are now at 75 days of resistance. We march in all of the cities of the country. We demand the return of the constitutional order with the arrival of Manuel Zelaya. At 75 days nobody is surrendering. Even more the political campaigns are very low since 80% of the citizens are in resistance and asking for a national constitutional assembly and the big political parties are weakening.

The economic crisis is strong, a lot of people can't go anymore to the resistance because they lack resources to move. From here we have done awareness campaigns but the electricity costs are high and they have cut off many spaces to finance the campaigns, give food at the end of a march. It's hard there is no tourism and the artisans aren't selling their products, there are no exports because of the blockade and employment is down.

HR: But nonetheless the mobilizations continue throughout the country?

BV: The resistance hasn't had recesses in 75 days now. It hasn't stopped. Some days like weekends or others we do assemblies, forums, debates, conferences and the resistance actions are in the whole country not just in Tegucigalpa the capital nor San Pedro Sula the industrial city it is in all of the towns some of which have 10,000 inhabitants or less.

HR: And how has the repression been?

BV: It gets stronger every day. The police and the army have united to beat us, violate women and even kill protesters. In each protest there are is ton of military repressing and now they infiltrate sports activities, in the stadiums, etc. Those they treat the worst are the peasants and the young students. They have gone into the high schools and universities to hit teachers and students and those from human rights from the State are in favor of the coup and the military so that raises the level of repression of the resistance.

HR: What is the current focus of the resistance?

BV: First to re-establish the constitutional order. Second to not go to elections. And third to convoke a new constitutional assembly. We believe that the State powers have been so weakened that only through a constitutional assembly could a new democratic process be initiated.

HR: And what is the position of the resistance with respect to the elections?

BV: The resistance says no to elections in November even if Zelaya arrives because there aren't political conditions nor is there transparency to be able to have elections in November. There aren't guarantees that make us confide in the process and with the elections so close it will not be possible from an independent candidacy to win the elections above all because of the politicization of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal and because of the economic crisis of the opposition. In addition the media terrorize people with their communications and they ideologically confuse people with their fear campaigns.

HR: Do you want to give a few words of conclusions about the situation there to those who read Honduras Resists?

BV: At over 75 days nobody here is surrendering. The people resist. Are country is passing not just through a political crisis but an economic one and as a people we are on our feet to continue struggling for a homeland with equity and justice. Francisco Morazán, our national hero, inspires us to continue struggling and to give live to the country in peace and democracy. As women we will continue struggling and will pass on to our children a better country.

We won't give up until the sight of victory since if we give one step backwards this lesson of coup d'etats would be replicated in countries on socialist paths like El Salvador and others of Latin America.

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News Sources / Fuentes de Noticias

Radio Progreso has radio updates (Spanish only) directly from the from the front-lines of the resistance in Honduras.

Une TV is one of the only independent national TV stations in Honduras

Rights Action has been doing good reporting and commentary as events unfold and has people on the ground monitoring the situation. They are also a reliable vehicle through which to get money to the organizations fighting for the restoration of democracy in Honduras.

Defensores en línea is the best (Spanish-only) online source for regularly updated information on the violation of human rights in Honduras.

Spanish - website of the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras about the struggle of the Garifuna people and other resistance and environmental struggles.

School of the Americas Watch has good background information on the coup-plotters training at the Georgia-based School of the Americas / (also known as the School of Assasins) as well as news updates on the coup and a call to action.